October 5-11; Center Stage Again

By JUDITH MILLER

Published: October 12, 1997

Jane Alexander, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, announced last week that the agency's show would go on without her. Discouraged by a four-year struggle with conservatives, who charged that the N.E.A. was spending tax money on pornography, and with the left, which argued that grants were too restrictive, the actress said she was returning to the theater. The agency's budget and staff were cut almost in half during her tenure. JUDITH MILLER